New luxury hotel to be built downtown

Downtown has been undergoing a transformation in recent years, and the upcoming Super Bowl is now driving much of that, including the addition of a new hotel.

Houston-based Midway Cos. said March 26 it will develop a 225-room, 25-story luxury hotel to anchor GreenStreet, formerly known as the Houston Pavilions. Hotel Alessandra will be on the site of the former Yao Restaurant & Bar— bounded by Main, Dallas, Polk and Fannin — with demolition work beginning this summer and an opening date expected in the third quarter of 2016, in time for the Super Bowl.

Demand for Houston-area hotel rooms — which increased 4.5 percent through the second quarter of 2013 — will increase 2.3 percent in 2014, 4.2 percent in 2015, 5.2 percent in 2016 and 4 percent in 2017, according to a report from San Francisco-based hotel consultant PKF Consulting LLC.

Click here for more on Houston-area hotels undergoing renovations, changing hands and being built.